At the 10 year anniversary of the completion of the human genome last year, there were pronouncements from a number of sources that the discovery has failed to deliver on most, if not all, of the promises made. Completion of the human genome project promised to imminently change both the development of new drugs and the future delivery of healthcare. I would argue that, considering the average amount of time needed to advance an average drug to market (8-12 years) and the general nature of the d

In both cases, the announcements provide their buyers with long term growth opportunities based on advances in the genomics area. In the first, Medco Health focuses on the opportunity for insurers to create the ability to screen their insured populations for a wide variety of genomic markers with the likely expectation that this individualized data can provide the foundation for improved treatment selection and subsequent improved patient outcomes. As a foundational approach, the…

Last week we published an expansive report on aggregate promotional spend compliance, wrapping up 6 months of in-depth research that included interviews with 27 pharmaceutical manufacturers. The report provides a snapshot of the industry's current state of readiness, illustrates various approaches that companies are employing, identifies IT strategies being utilized, and discusses best practices and lessons learned by companies furthest along this road toward compliance. The report also discusses 13 vendors

The pharmaceutical industry, which is already notorious for siloed data, must now identify all touch points with HCPs across divisions, ensure proper data stores exist, correctly identify all spend recipients, ensure all interactions are thoroughly documented, aggregate all data in a consistent and repeatable manner, and regularly report spend in a transparent fashion to multiple regulatory bodies. In short, this is no easy feat.

In watching the continuing turmoil confronting the life science industry on almost a daily basis, it is hard to envision what a sustainable future might look like sometime in the (hopefully) near future. It is clear that many longstanding practices that we have become accustomed to have fallen by the wayside, with more change to come. Numerous pressures and influences, both large and small, are driving change, ranging from globalization and the new world order to more and more powerful smart pho

The core of this future industry landscape is information-centric, with all parties working to create, leverage, and grow knowledge that works to directly deliver improved patient outcomes. The way that we access information is going to be significantly different, with no desktops, laptops, or isolated data silos, replaced by portals with minimal local storage and no computational horsepower. Data, information, and analytical capabilities will all be in the cloud, empowering…